JAMZ of 2010

Music is one major way that God speaks to me. It moves me to act, it inspires me, and it just gives me joy. I’m so thankful to have this intricate auditory system that God designed in my body so that I can hear the instruments together, working to make the sounds I hear. Just as the many songs you hear may be a combination of many talented musicians working together, God designed our body systems to work together to make us function. Vibrations (sound waves) go to the numerous, small structures in our ear that have cool names like the stirrup to detect the sound that eventually vibrate cilia which sends messages to our brain which then translates those vibrates to become what we perceive as a certain sound. IT’S SO COOL (especially if you say that last sentence really fast). Don’t get me started on how we see.

Not that you care, but it’s more for my future reference. Just adding to my existing list favorites: 1. The Stand (Name of my blog, obvious huh?) 2. Came to My Rescue and 3. Only You. Basically, these are the songs that I won’t ever skip when it comes up on shuffle…

I still haven’t decided if they have ranking, so they’re tied for #4

I Will Follow-Chris Tomlin, Our God-Chris Tomlin, Forever Reign-Hillsong, Cielo-Phil Wickham, Absolutely-Starfield, One Thing Remains-Jesus Culture, Like a Lion-David Crowder/Kristian Stanfill (new worship leader crush , but only with the short haircut), Lift Me Up-The Afters, I Am Yours-The Afters, Your Love is Everything-Jesus Culture, Tear Down the Walls-Hillsong, With Everything-Hillsong, Something Beautiful-NEEDTOBREATHE (I was curious about their all-caps, one-word band name, and what’d ya know? It doesn’t explain why I went googling, but they have Alabama connections! No wonder I like them). There’s a lot more, but these are the ultimate favs. Enjoy all the links!

God is…

God is so good. God is moving. God is real. God is amazing. God is alive. I could go on and on, but the best way to describe Him? INDESCRIBABLE.

Ignoring the fact that I have issues expressing myself with my words, I cannot accurately portray my excitement for what He is going to do on campus. I’ve been on campus for only a week. However, I can just sense Him moving. We (small group leaders) made a big, in my opinion, announcement today about how we are now going to have a sophomore class family group and a junior/senior class family group. What I sensed to be a hushed excitement in the room is exactly what I felt about this. It’s exciting! I can’t wait. New leadership on the team, new structure, and a new passion for Him. It’s a risk, but I think God will work no matter what.  TCF is such a huge blessing in my life, and I know that it can grow so much more. I just want to join in on what God’s already doing as I try my best to be His humble servant. Surrendering it all is a challenge, but it’s what I strive to do. He’s worth it.

“Tear Down the Walls” has been sitting in my Itunes for quite a while now, and recently it came up on shuffle. I’ve been listening to it non-stop ever since, but I couldn’t figure out why until I listened with my heart. It’s my vision for Tufts and for my life. As I’ve tried to share in the countless, blessed conversations I’ve had so far about how God has transformed me, this song powerfully sums up how I’m feeling. He’s placed certain people in my life for a very specific purpose, and I can’t wait to see how He works in those relationships. Praise Him ahead of time for moving in my life and on campus this semester! God is bigger.

“Cause I can’t shake this fire burning deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising
As Your glory floods our hearts
Let love tear down these walls
That all creation would
Come back to You
It’s all for You

Your Name is glorious
Glorious
Your love is changing us
Calling us
To worship in spirit and in truth
As all creation returns to You

Oh for all the sons and daughters
Who are walking in the darkness
You are calling us to lead them back to You
We will see Your spirit rising
As the lost come out of hiding
Every heart will see this hope we have in You“

What are you thirsty for?

Water?

Clear and refreshing. At least for some of us in the world. More than one BILLION people do not have access to clean water. God has answered the questions I was having in this post (click to read). At Passion, He made it obvious that He has burdened me with this water problem. “Break my heart for what breaks yours.” A child dies every 15 seconds from a water-related illness. I was so moved by the water station at the Go Center: basically a huge, creative display of everything God is doing to heal the world and how we can be a part of it. There’s so much hurt, but God is Healer. We’ve got to worship Him through justice and join Him in this movement. I thought I was strong, but…man, carrying that 30 lb water jug for 1/8^th of a mile was incredibly difficult. I was out of breath and I couldn’t feel my arms. And children walk several miles every day just to get dirty water that gives them diseases and barely provides for the family’s needs. That’s just plain ridiculous. Don’t take water for granted.

Check out the causes: http://268generation.com/blog/2011/01/ Be prepared for a challenge. http://www.dosomethingnow.com/

Living Water?

We should be thirsty for it since it quenches all thirst. “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” -John 7:38. Through family-related discussion, I realized that the water burden I have is so much more than just physical water. My family needs to be hit with a tsunami of Living Water.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how pride is truly the root of many of our sins/problems, especially after reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Greed, selfishness, self-image, wanting to be needed, etc. I take pride in this blog; I take a blow to my pride if I am too conscious of what other people think of me. As he said, “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” Don’t get me wrong…it’s not easy, but I’m learning. If you’re aware of it, it changes your outlook on how you approach situations and how you react. You think you don’t have this problem? Maybe think about what that says about how you see yourself. Been there done that. “If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.” As John Piper asked us, “Are you at the bottom of your joys or is God?”

It also gets you closer to the goal of giving all your thoughts to Christ. It’s natural for us to think about ourselves all the time. That’s the challenge. Even when we are doing good, we think of how it benefits us. Real-life example: “I was thinking, if he gets hit, I can’t go to work. It’s Sunday. I can’t miss out. It’s a time and a half day,” –Carlos Flores, a New Yorker who, in order to prevent a train delay, jumped onto subway tracks to save a man who had fainted. (Time magazine)

I like to think of it this way. When there’s a little foreign contaminant in my glass of water, I either try to ignore it or try to fish it out in an unsterile manner (namely my hands). The easiest way to get that little speck out is to pour the glass out and get some new water. Okay, now pretend that glass of water is your heart. You begin to notice that “little” something holding you back (let’s say pride), and you try to fix it yourself, but you simply can’t do it yourself. Hopefully you get my analogy. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” -Matthew 16:25. We have to empty ourselves and become truly humble so that Living Water can make us clean. We need help. Our glasses will be crystal-clear and we can reflect His light better!

So, what are you thirsty for?